Fish Tank Photos.. How do you take them?

[BrettMad]

I was trying to get some close up of a few of my fish, particularly my Boesemani rainbows to see if I can get some help in identifying whether I have male or female. These are very active fish, occasionally I get one swimming in a current near the front glass, but usually by the time my smart phone is able to focus on it, it is gone.

I must have taken 80 pictures over the last two days. I have deleted 9/10 of them because all I ended up was relatively for shaped Blurs and a clearly focused back of the tank. Even the photos I kept well, the best I can say about them is they do not seem to glory or one of the fish in the picture is almost clear

Note I have an LG smart phone, and not one that was optimized towards photos, so I know that that is part of my problem. However, at the moment I cannot see dropping a lot of money on a better smart phone or on a separate digital camera, so I guess I am asking what techniques you may have that help you get good photos either of the tank as a whole or close-ups of your fish?

I have LED lights and a 155 G bowfront tank, both of which probably impact this. I welcome any suggestions. I even welcome suggestions about relatively inexpensive improvements to this smart phone, not that I could not enact those now but something to look forward to later on.

[TMaier]

If you show up at the tank at feeding time only, it's going to be hard. You need to spend a lot of time sitting in front of the tank watching so they get used to you just hanging out.

I find my fish are more apt to stay stationary in the late evening a bit before lights out.

But even then smartphones can be stupid and not focus fast enough. But with lots of patience and deleting you should get a few worth keeping. This one took over 200+ in the burst mode before I got one I liked.

[Toad]

Sometimes sitting further away and zooming helps keep them from swarming lol. I also tap the zoom constantly to get my phone to focus on the fish and not the background

[mimiheart]

Originally Posted by TMaier

If you show up at the tank at feeding time only, it's going to be hard. You need to spend a lot of time sitting in front of the tank watching so they get used to you just hanging out.

I find my fish are more apt to stay stationary in the late evening a bit before lights out.

But even then smartphones can be stupid and not focus fast enough. But with lots of patience and deleting you should get a few worth keeping. This one took over 200+ in the burst mode before I got one I liked. Attachment 302329

I have mollies and I'm nearly always in the room with them. If I move at all, they think it's feeding time. They also think the dog is going to feed them. Or the cat. Or any of the children just coming in to ask a question. If it moves outside of the tank, it's time to mob the front of the tank on the off chance it will bring food. The platies and swordtails just come along for the ride. (One of my cories thinks it's a molly.)

[mimiheart]

I take pictures from further away and zoom in on the fish I want. I also can take better pictures of my 20 gallon than my 40 gallon, the fish in there are a little shyer (still not shy, but shyer.) And don't tend to rush me quite as much. Just after feeding is a little easier. My frog/betta/oto tank is right next to my bed, so I just snap pictures all day long of them and they don't even notice. I also end up with a lot of pictures of them from the same angle, though.